In the Heia/Steinan area of Storfosna, the Germans established a network of trenches, small bunkers and defensive positions. It was probably built in a supporting role to the much larger HKB Storfosna located close by. Although very overgrown, the area is largely untouched and these remains can still be clearly seen today. These two videos are from two underground bunkers connecting machine gun nests, mortar positions etc.Continue Reading

A one billion Norwegian kroner fortress built on a weather beaten island on the Norwegian coast just as the cold war was coming to an end. The builders hardly had time to pack up and leave before the government decided to disband this and several other similar fortresses, abandoning them to the elements and a flock of sheep.Continue Reading

(See below for Norwegian text)
Construction of Brettingen fort was started in 1897, at the same time as Hysnes and Hambåra forts which together formed the Agdenes constellation of fortifications. The construction was a part of a larger military build-up towards the dissolution of the union with Sweden in 1905. Luckily, although the army was put on a an alert and partial mobilization was enacted, no hostilities ever broke out. At least outside of the negotiation rooms 🙂Continue Reading

HKB Justöen, also known as Birkenstrasse, was a coastal fortress built by the German army during the occupation of Norway during world war 2. The building commenced in 1941 but even though it soon became operational, it was never completely finished before the surrender of Nazi Germany in may 1945. The fortress was equipped with 4 x 10.5cm K332 (f) French field cannons with a range of approx. 16000 meters. The fortress was spread out over a large area with a multitude of smaller machine gun positions, flame throwers, mortar positions as well as being completely surrounded by a barbed wire blockade and a mine field.Continue Reading

At Rugsundøy, by the inlet to the fjord Nordfjord in Bremanger municipality in Norway, lies this coastal fortress, built by the German wehrmacht during the second world war. The German invaders arrived at this small desolate island already during the fall of 1940 and started the construction of what was to become MAB 9./504 Nordfjorden. This fortress was organized under the Kriegsmarine M.A.A. 504 division, located in Bergen.Continue Reading

On the remote island of Tarva, off the coast of Trøndelag in Norway, lies this huge coastal fortress which consisted of a multitude of bunkers, trenches, gun positions, cannon emplacements, radars and more, built by the Germans after the invasion of Norway in April 1940. The fortress was equipped with 3 huge 28cm SKL/45 guns, capable of propelling a projectile almost 40 kilometres away. It also had an extensive set of defensive works in the surrounding area, to defend against land based and airborne attacks.

At it’s peak, over 2000 German soldiers was garrisoned on this island. In addition, there was an unknown number of POW incarcerated here to work on the building of the fortress. The fortress got a brief history as part of the Norwegian army after the war but after an accident during test firing of one of the canons in November 1945, in which a grenade exploded inside the canon, killing 6 of the German crew, and 2 Norwegians, further plans for a coastal fortress as this Island was abandoned. A 500Kg piece of the canon can still be found where it fell after the explosion 55 years ago, almost 1.5 kilometres from where the canon stood.

To get to this island, there’s a 2 times daily ferry, going once back and forth in the morning, and once back and forth in the afternoon, with a bit different timing during weekends. In order to get as much time as possible on the island, I decided to take the last ferry out on Friday evening, and the only ferry back again, the next day. This left me with about 16 hours between I got to the Island at 20:00 Friday evening, and until I had to be back at the ferry, to get back to the mainland at 12:25 the next day. The 5 hours of sleep I got during the night was obviously too long, since 16 hours proved wholly inadequate and I didn’t even manage to get around everything, much less take a second round to take some more proper pictures as I had planned, after doing a preliminary round just taking snapshots. I suppose this just means I need to go back some other time ; – )

The ferry taking me from the mainland out to the island, and back again

Landing for the ferry

Only the building foundations and steps are left

Unknown position

House made out of rocks and concrete

Water reservoir, still in use

Recycling fenceposts for barbed wire blockade

Kabelhaus

Steps leading from baracks up to positions on top of the hill

Smaller gun position?

Smaller gun or radar position?

Part of the camouflage covering for a canon?

View from one of the bunkers

Tank traps

Foundations of building

House without a roof

Tree groing in the middle of what used to be an office

Garage

Some kind of building made out of concrete

Shelter

Foundation for one of the radars

Business end of tunnel entrence

Severely rusted door inside tunnel

Business end of tunnel entrence

Fluwa – air defence lookout

Possibly a phone?

Trenches leading to covered defensive position

Entrance to the giant mamoth radar bunker

Same entrance from the inside

Inside the bunker for the mamoth radar

Shaft up to the top of the radar bunker, where the actual radar was located

Inside the bunker for the mamoth radar

Bunker near the mamoth radar

Bunker near the mamoth radar

Beds inside a tunnel

Some kind of tank inside one of the tunnels

Bunker

Observation post

Observation post

MG position

Flak position?

Flak position?

Entrance to main command bunker

Inside main command bunker

Main command bunker

Inside main command bunker

Inside main command bunker

On guard (Ehlert, Max / CC-BY-SA / 1943)

Command bunker (Ehlert, Max / CC-BY-SA / 1943)

Inside main command bunker

12 years worh of “Wireless world”

Loran timer set instructions manual

Inside main command bunker

Command bunker

Bunker and road leading up to the site of one of the 28cm SKL/45 canons

SKL/45 (Photo: Ehlert, Max / CC-BY-SA / 1943)

Bunker at the site of one of the 28cm SKL/45 canons

Bunker at the site of one of the 28cm SKL/45 canons

500Kg part of the 28cm SKL/45 canon that exploded in the accident after the war

Bunker next to the site of one of the 28cm SKL/45 canons. Reused by local farmers